Scope of the problem

The Power of Denial

When educators, program designers and administrators ignore the issue of violence and its impact on learning we/they deny students the supportive environment that would allow recognition of the fact that violence negatively affects learning. Denial hinders any exploration of alternate strategies to support learning. When the issue is ignored, problems get larger – within the silence the dragon grows. The larger the problems get the more scary they seem, and the more difficult it is to participate and learn. Yet, if we turn and face our struggles – acknowledge the impacts of violence are there, then there are a myriad of ways to address them and support learning – both our own learning and the learning of others.

This children’s story powerfully reveals how determined we can be to deny reality, and to push things away that we can plainly see!

Click on the illustration above to see a large version

Text and Illustration from THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A DRAGON by Jack Kent. Used by permission of Golden Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc. www.randomhouse.com.